The hub for marathon mountain biking
After a day up and down the mountains of the Hunter Valley yesterday, riders would have no respite today with the longest stage of the race on the menu including a lap of the world class Awaba singletrack and an epic climb up to the slopes of Mount Faulk. Last night riders and spectators alike […]
Belgian Mountainbike Challenge is billed as the toughest bike race in the Benelux but I was left wondering if it’s actually the toughest in the World!? The Ardennes is a famous location for road racing and has a rich history of mountain bike racing with the town of Houffalize hosting the UCI MTB World Cup […]
While Alice Springs might be the closest town to every beach in Australia, it’s also prohibitively far from all the nation’s capital cities. For many of us, this means a longish flight or maybe two; it means a fair bit of holiday budget sunk into airfares and accommodation; and it means we might think twice […]
As a semi professional racer I have limited opportunities to travel due to other work commitments, I have limited sponsorship resources, for these and other reasons its crucial to make the most of every race weekend. When issues occur like teammates being ill or bike mechanical it’s incredible frustrating but when race organisers let you and […]
Seven weeks ago, I had a big crash in a women’s criterium that ended my racing season before it really began. Early in the final 200m sprint, where I was sitting in the top 10 (I thought I’d be safe there), there was a surge from behind and riders moved sideways. It took the girl […]
Armidale’s University of New England campus hosted its second round of the National XCO Series today on a day that began with perfect sunny skies but gave way to brief storms in the afternoon. Today’s track included some elements of yesterday’s course, with the same start loop and a few early trails in common, but […]
A couple of weeks ago I covered what you need to take as essentials for The Pioneer – things you’ll have on hand each day on the bike, either as mandatory equipment, or items that will help get you to the end of the race if things go pear shaped. But The Pioneer is a […]
For 2017 the Australian National Series has taken a slightly different approach. Gone are some of the more standard locations like Mt Stromlo, the You Yangs, or even Pemberton. Instead, Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) are championing more double-headers, with 3 weekends of two races, then a standalone Oceania Championships at Toowoomba, and then National Championships […]
To paraphrase Dan Atherton, I couldn’t wait to get school out of the way so I could get on with life, specifically racing and training full time. I finished my Abitur (German High School finals) in May having half-heartedly prepared for both the exams and early season racing. My first race was round one of […]
“I will not rest until I sip cappuccino in starting block A” This was a strong statement, delivered by a friend I made at my first mountain bike stage race, the 2008 Transalp. Thomas Dooley had uttered the sentence with the mix of determination and irony that I would come to learn typified his personality. […]
